In 1996, there was tension in the computer industry. Caldera, a company with patents on DR-DOS, initiated an anti-competitive lawsuit against Microsoft relating to its use of MS-DOS (and thus Windows 95 and 98…and eventually Me). This lawsuit simply got larger and larger. As the years wore on, the situation looked dire for Microsoft. The government was involved, and Microsoft’s case was not very strong. Over the years Microsoft had bundled many different programs with its operating systems, including Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. This was considered monopolistic behavior, and the Government’s case was rife with evidence against Microsoft. Possible sanctions to be imposed upon the Redmond-based software giant were being explored, and eventually solid concepts emerged from the proverbial fog: either Microsoft would be split into two companies (one controlling the Windows operating system and the other everything else), or the source code for its Windows platforms would need to be released. Eventually, the court ruled that Microsoft would be required to split up, and Microsoft appealed. The District of Columbiaappellate court overturned the ruling, and the case continued on. This process carried on into the next century, with a settlement plan reached almost in concert with the young George W. Bush’s administration taking charge. Microsoft finally required to pay a large settlement and “avoid” bundling its products with its operating systems in the future. Cough.

During the summer of 2003, IBM jumped in while SCO had continued threatening to sue other companies who refused to pay their newly-imposed licensing fees. There was suing and countersuing. Early August saw IBM dropping a gigantic lawsuit on SCO for violating IBM’s patents with its UnixWear operating systems. IBM also brought up several other patent violations, including forms of data compression and redundant back-up software. Needless to say SCO could not really compete with IBM on a legal front, and eventually they backed off.

Corporations themselves have the same rights as a person. The concept of a “corporation” was created many years ago in an effort to minimize the liability of the owners of, and to maximize the lifespan of, the organization. There are certain loopholes that are inherent in this type of a legal definition. A corporation has many rights normally accorded to a citizen. These include, but are not limited to: property rights, legal rights, and in many ways a corporation can be considered capable of governing its infrastructure in the same fashion as a State.

This is a dilemma. All of these things slightly benefit those involved in the company, but greatly benefit only a small number of scheming individuals involved in the corporation. Namely, the shareholders. The men and women on the board, the “investors,” are liable only in that they are affected if the price of their stock drops. Thus, if a hypothetical company were to incur tens of billions of dollars in losses, and these losses include cash bonuses for those shareholders so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, I mean, were so good to stay with the company during hard times, those stockholders incur none of the debt of the company. In fact, while we all know this is highly illegal behavior, it is possible for a corporation to simply lie about its earnings and pay off its stockholders with money that simply isn’t there. But it never happens. We all know that.

That is the loophole. Corporations are beneficial to the economy in that they are able to supply goods at lower-than-average prices and higher-than-average quality than competing smaller companies, so they can stay. But, in effect, they are also a very powerful tool for powerful men to move powerful sums of money from their Company’s coffers directly to their wallets. This has happened again and again. Enron? WorldCom? PG&E? Oh, yeah, almost forgot to mention, these stockholders together also generally hold the majority of the stock of a publicly-traded company, and so if they were to sell their stock at just the right time…well yeah, you get the idea. But no one does insider trading anymore either, you know they’ll catch you. Right.

What’s next? The Government giving out newly printed money to corporations in an effort to stem deflation? Actually, that was a policy that the Bush administration was “prepared to take” were it necessary.